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Home , Khamtrul Rinpoche, Shambhala Buddhism, Sravasti Abbey

Winter 2018 Volume 27 Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women

Tab le Of Contents

Inspiring Nuns in by Dominique Butet, with Kate Bennett

Visakha: The Chief Female Benefactor of the Buddha by Asoka Bandarage

From Rape Texts to Bro : Critical Canonical and Contemporary Perspectives on the Sex Abuse Scandals in Western Buddhism by Sarah H. Jacoby

Disability, Illness, and : A Tale of Three Lives by Lynn Merrill Weyman

Women in Mongolian Buddhist Culture by Altantsetseg Jadamba

Buddhist Prevention of Mental Disorders by Tenzin Kunsel

Buddhist-Christian Dialogue: “Multiple Belonging” by Eleanor Pontoriero INSPIRING NUNS IN ARUNACHAL PRADESH News from the Garden by Dominique Butet, with Kate Bennett by Jetsunma

Sakyadhita Germany Meets Again Beyond the snow-covered passes, the far-off places of Arunachal Pradesh felt like jewels hidden by Rotraut (Jampa) Wurst in golden boxes. As we moved beyond the Brahmaputra riverscape, we slowly left behind the warmth of rice paddies. Gradually, banana and palm trees disappeared from view. We reached A Nuns’ Leadership Program the Sela Pass after a twelve-hour drive. At the top the pass, 13,700 feet high, a path stretched before by Khenmo Drolma us along a glistening frozen lake that led to a wonderful land nestled between and . Living in the West: Taiwanese In this land, the region of Tawang, green slopes mingled with deep forests and pristine streams Vinaya Master Teaches plunged down steep gorges into turbulent rivers. at Sravasti Abbey Located in the western region of Arunachal Pradesh in the northeast of , Tawang is home by Bhiksuni Thubten Chonyi to the distinctive Monpa people and their culture. Historically, the Tibetan word “Mon” referred News to the indigenous tribes of Bhutan and southern Tibet. The Monpas became separated from their Tibetan cousins in 1914, when the British drew the MacMahon Line along the high ridges of the Himalayas, demarcating a border with Tibet. The Monpas were subsumed into the British Raj and eventually into Arunachal Pradesh, the 24th state of India. Nevertheless, Monpa culture has been preserved up until the present, largely thanks to the political and social activities of the 13th Tsona Gontse . Not only did this respected maintain close relations with the Indian government, but he also created many schools. These schools include Shanti in Bomdila and the Central Institute of Himalayan Culture Studies in Dahung. Today, these schools have a total of 280 students, including 80 monks and 23 nuns. At the beginning of the 20th century, the 12th Tsona Gontse Rinpoche founded a nunnery in the village of Singsur, located about 20 kilometers from Tawang. At that time, three hermit nuns who Sakyadhita

were practicing there approached him to request his support. joined her aunt with the approval of her family at the age of Touched by their devotion, the 12th Tsona Gontse Rinpoche twelve. Academically talented, she had been studying for six agreed to help them build a nunnery on the grassy slopes of years in Dahung and was starting her final year before university. Lhou Village. In his next , the 13th Tsona Rinpoche again She hoped to continue her studies and become a teacher. Tsering assisted the nuns and the community has continued to grow. admitted to having thought about becoming a geshema, but this Singsur Nunnery is currently home to 44 nuns. The nunnery new and long curriculum would be daunting, and such a choice consists of a number of small dwellings called shaks that have depended on her aunt’s finances. “Education is as important as been constructed around the temple. These dwellings are built rice in life,” she stated with conviction. Genden Lhamu agreed. on stone foundations and have cement-reinforced bamboo walls. She had recently completed her Master’s degree in Buddhist Each adult nun lives with and supports up to three younger nuns. philosophy, closing four years of higher education in Delhi. In these dwellings we discovered the power of “aunties,” who The joyful Thupten Choezom, 25 years old, was in charge of not only take care of and educate their “nieces,” but also perform leading the chanting and prayers during rituals, thus fulfilling essential responsibilities. These include growing vegetables, the function of umze. She was able to join her great-aunt at preparing their own meals, collecting wood for rigorous winters, Singsur Nunnery at the age of 13. However, she did not have the and performing rituals in the villages to help earn money for opportunity to study beyond the fifth grade. In fact, her great- their subsistence. In this way, they also ensure that villagers have aunt had decided that it would be in her best interest to memorize access to Buddhist practices throughout the year in their own the ritual texts so she would not lose her traditional culture. homes. These nuns also play a vital role in maintaining Buddhist Thupten Choezom, who led all the rituals with her inspiring traditions in the Tawang region, showing great devotion by voice, claimed to be happy. “And the most important thing in life giving all their remaining time to spiritual practice. is to be happy, right?” she added as evidence. Nevertheless, since Sometimes the nuns’ families help them build their shaks, becoming a “nun-teacher,” she was in charge of two young nuns: but this is not always the case. As 58-year-old Jambey Chozom 13-year-old Pema, who was continuing her secular schooling in explained: seventh grade, and a 19-year-old nun who is studying at Dahung. “It’s also very important to be well educated,” Thupten Choezom When my parents died, I was 11 years old, so I had to take said, concluding our conversation with a burst of laughter. care of my four brothers and sisters. I ran away twice to Knowing how crucial education is for the future of her nunnery, join the nunnery, because I clearly wanted to become a nun, Genden Lhamu was pleased when a qualified monk scholar but my family made me feel guilty about this decision. At (geshe) arrived. The geshe had come to teach for two years in the age of 25, I finally succeeded and, I went to live with Singsur at Genden Lhamu’s invitation. The other two nunneries my nun teacher at Singsur. Then nine years ago, I built my of Tawang have also benefitted from this kind of precious help. own shak with the money I earned during rituals and now But Genden Llamu has even bigger plans for her community. I can take care of my three nieces. Her dream is to create a monastic college (shedra). By both religious as well as modern subjects such as math and Genden Lhamu, who was in charge of supplies at the nunnery, English, the nuns could continue their studies after primary was also the resource person who opened the doors of the school without going to Dahung. This would also serve older shaks and gave us access to the nuns’ touching stories. She nuns of the community who were unable to receive a secular had recently completed an extensive research project on all of education and are beyond the age to do so now. Tawang’s nunneries. This 27-year-old woman has been a nun To this end, Genden Lhamu has created an association that is in since the age of nine and was then serving in the rotating role the process of completing the administrative registration in Delhi. of nyerpa (storekeeper) for one year. She was quick-witted and She will thus be able to raise funds to pay the salaries necessary totally dedicated to the community. In June 2017, she attended the for good teachers and to recruit a geshema to ensure that the nuns 15th Sakyadhita International Conference on Buddhist women in receive a quality education. Reluctant to continue her studies and Hong Kong and presented a paper about the nuns of Northeast start a PhD, Genden Lhamu is certain that she would eventually India. She, too, had shown great tenacity in becoming a nun like to teach either Tibetan or English. She is highly motivated, as because her family was not in favor of this choice at first. Since evidenced by the fact that she had managed to have three young her parents refused her decision, she escaped from the house nuns admitted to Thupten Choeling Monastery’s Balika School, at the age of nine and hid under a large tree planted outside the located below Singsur Nunnery. Founded in 2015, as a project of village. Her family looked for her all night and when she was the 13th Tsona Rinpoche, and with the agreement of the Indian finally found, Genden Lhamu refused to go back home. Her government, this school welcomes 100 girls from kindergarten parents finally understood that her decision to be a nun was up to third grade. The school plans to open a new class each irrevocable. They agreed that she would live at the nunnery in her year, eventually offering education up to eighth grade, with six great-aunt’s shak, while recommending that she be careful never teachers who would teach classes in Tibetan, English, Hindi, to disrobe. Her father’s advice was: “Become a nun, but never mathematics, environmental studies, and , come back.” Although he was attached to the family’s reputation, all in a pleasant and serene environment conducive to studying. he was equally concerned about his daughter’s happiness. This enthusiasm for education was not a privilege solely for Fortunately, it was easier for 25-year-old Tsering Dolma, who young nuns. Jambey Chozom regretted that she had not had

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access to formal education. At 58 years of age, she only spoke the renowned Buddhist girls’ school in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monpa dialect and had to memorize all the ritual texts without named after the chief female benefactor of the Buddha. The being able to read them. She said, “Education is important Buddha remarked, “Visakha stands out foremost among because it brings greater recognition for nuns by the society.” my women lay supporters… of the Order.”1 The generosity Upon reflection, Thupten Wangmo, 63 years old, went even (dana) of royal and wealthy patrons such as Visakha further: “Education makes it possible to bring new things into and Anathapindika, the Buddha’s chief male lay disciple, society and to change the mindset.” Her dreams? That there contributed greatly to the preservation and spread of the would be good teachers for nuns, of course, but also a system that Buddha’s teachings (Dhamma) over the centuries. In light would enable, for example, the nuns to take meals together in a of contemporary debates over such concerns as the ethics common kitchen to engender greater social cohesion. “Yes, with of wealth and the roles of women, it is inspiring to reflect education, my life would have been different,” she concluded upon the life of Visakha, the great Dhamma practitioner with clarity reinforced by years of practice. “I could have talked who was the Buddha’s chief benefactress. to you directly in English, for example. I hope the young nuns Visakha was born into a wealthy family in the Maghada will have a life less difficult than mine.” Kingdom and grew up in Saketa, a lovely city built by her father near Savatthi, located in the Kosala Kingdom. In Savatthi, she married into a family of great wealth. In addition to her riches, Visakha was renowned for her beauty, charm, poise, and physical strength. She possessed the five maidenly attributes of beauty – exquisite hair, teeth, skin, youth, and form – that her husband Punnavaddhana had required of his bride. After marriage, Visakha gave birth to ten sons and ten daughters, who in turn gave birth to a great many grandchildren and great grandchildren. Visakha was an exemplary wife and mother, and a compassionate caretaker of animals. She was also a person of wisdom, kindness, generosity, and other attributes of Geden Choeden, from Bhutan, had other considerations. At 83 inner beauty. Though she lived in a patriarchal society, years of age, she had spent nearly 70 years in Singsur. When we Visakha maintained her own independent business and met her, she was taking advantage of the slight midday sun to was known for her managerial and communication skills. recite , her main occupation. Sitting in the grass above Among all of Visakha’s virtues, most noteworthy was her the temple, she told us about the many retreats in mountain or devotion and support for the Buddha and the – forest huts that had shaped her experiences and her life. Her best the monastic community of monks () and nuns memory was of having helped the 12th Tsona Rinpoche build (bhikkhunis). the Tsongkhapa statue in the old temple. She proudly added Visakha first met the Buddha, listened to his teachings, that she had attended the teachings of five times. and entered the path of the Dhamma when she was just Her face was beaming when she evoked the blessing she had seven years old. From then on, until her death at the age received from His Holiness the ; after she fainted of 120, she used her wealth and talents to tirelessly and during the teachings, she realized his blessing had cured her generously serve the sangha. Visakha’s father-in-law of her headaches. Her simplicity and depth inspire profound Migara was a devout disciple of the Niganthas, a of respect. Genden Lhamu also came alive as she listened: “One naked ascetics. The story of how she convinced him to thing is certain: for young nuns to achieve such serenity in the accept the Buddha’s teachings attests to her sense of humor, future, education and practice need to go hand in hand.” intelligence, and audacity. These words filled our hearts with joy. Thanks to the nuns’ One day, a Buddhist monk came to Migara’s doorstep devotion and the high quality of the projects they have carried as he was eating out of a golden bowl and Migara refused out, Singsur Nunnery already contains the seeds of great to offer him any food. Embarrassed, Visakha said to the spiritual attainments that will surely ripen in the future. monk, “Pass by, Venerable Sir, my father-in-law eats stale Dominique Butet is a teacher and writer based in Paris. She co- food.” The enraged Migara demanded an explanation. In authored, with Marie Champeaux-Cunin, the book, The Magic of her calm voice, Visakha explained that Migara was eating Meditation: Stories and Practices to Develop Gratitude and the benefits of his past good deeds without doing anything Empathy with Your Child (Boulder: , 2018). to accrue further . Visakha also said that, given her unshakeable faith in the teachings of the Buddha, she did VISAKHA: THE CHIEF FEMALE BENEFACTOR OF THE not feel comfortable living in a house where monks were BUDDHA not welcome. If she did not get permission to invite the by Asoka Bandarage monks to the house, she would leave. Reluctantly, Migara agreed to invite the Buddha and the The year 2017 marked the centenary of Visakha Vidyalaya, monks to a meal at his house. When he heard the Buddha’s

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discourse at the end of the meal, Migara entered the Dhamma path. He expressed gratitude to his daughter-in- law for helping birth his spiritual liberation and declared that henceforth Visakha would be like a mother to him. Thus, Visakha came to be known as Mother Visakha or Migaramata, the mother of Migara. In time, she built the magnificent Pubbarama (Eastern Monastery) and donated it to the sangha. The monastery came to be known as Migaramatupasada, the terraced abode of Migara’s mother. Visakha always tended vigilantly to the well-being of the sangha, attending to the needs of both monks and nuns. She requested the Buddha to grant her eight boons. As long as she lived, she wished to give robes to monks during the rainy season, rice gruel to the monks daily, meals to monks who entered Savatthi, meals to monks who left the city, meals to sick monks, medicine for sick monks, meals for monks tending the sick, and clothes for nuns to wear while bathing. When Visakha disclosed her pure intention, the Buddha granted her these eight boons. Her request was not motivated by self-promotion. Instead, she wished to develop the five spiritual faculties pancha ( ) – sangha, she circumambulated the monastery with her faith, energy, , concentration, and wisdom children and grandchildren, singing elatedly. Seeing this – and the seven factors of enlightenment (sapta bhojanga) unusual behavior, some monks asked the Buddha whether – mindfulness, keen investigation, energy, joy, tranquility, Visakha had lost her mind. The Buddha responded that concentration, and equanimity. Visakha had not lost her mind; she was simply reciting some As the leading female lay disciple of the Buddha, Visakha verses of exultation over the fulfillment of her aspirations played an influential role in activities pertaining to the in past and present existences. The Buddha then spoke a sangha. A number of monastic precepts were promulgated verse extolling the merits of putting one’s resources and due to her intervention. For example, she questioned those abilities to good use. This well-known verse is known as monks who refused to ordain novices during the rainy “Visakha Vatthu”: season. She told the Buddha, “The Dhamma is timeless. Just as from a collection of flowers many There is no time when the Dhamma cannot be followed.” garlands can be made by an expert florist, so Thereafter, the Buddha allowed ordination during the also, with wealth, faith, and generosity, one who rainy season. Visakha played a especially important role is subject to birth and death can do much good.2 in managing the bhikkhunī sangha. Sometimes the Buddha Pubbarama is mentioned frequently in the . allowed her to settle disputes among the nuns. Some The Buddha spent many rainy seasons there during the last precepts for the nuns were set forth on her advice. 25 years of his life and delivered many important discourses The story of how Pubbarama came to be built is there. In the Agganna Sutta, which was delivered to two fascinating. One day, while Visakha was listening to brahmins, the Buddha refuted caste ideology. He explained a Dhamma discourse at Jetavana Monastery, built by how human beings became bound to the wheel of samsāra Anathapindika in Savatthi, she set aside a valuable jeweled life after life and how the practice of Dhamma, which is cloak that was part of her bridal jewelry and forgot it there. universal, allows aspiratants from any of the four castes When she discovered the loss, she refused to take it back to attain enlightenment. It was also at Pubbarama that the and instead auctioned it off to raise money to support the Buddha gave permission for the patimokkha, the basic sangha. When she could not find anyone is the whole of code of conduct for the sangha, to be recited in his absence. Savatthi with the means to buy her expensive cloak, worth One full-moon night, while the Buddha was residing some 90 million pieces of gold, Visakha bought it back at Pubharama and the white kaumudi lily was in bloom, herself. With that money and an additional 180 million, she the Buddha delivered the Sutta to a vast bought land and built Pubbarama at the eastern gate of community of silent monks. In this discourse, which is Savatthi. The building had two floors, with 500 rooms on central to the Buddha’s teaching of meditation, he explained each floor, and a pinnacle of solid gold at the top that could mindfulness of breathing in detail: hold 60 water pots. It is said that the building was very tastefully furnished and completely carpeted. Pubbarama O bhikkhus, the full awareness of breathing, if was donated to the sangha in the thrity-first year after the developed and practiced continuously, will be Buddha’s awakening. rewarding and bring great advantages. It will lead On the day that Visakha dedicated Pubbarama to the to success in practicing the Four Establishments of

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Mindfulness. If the method of the Four Establishments over the past 25-plus years, many of us have realized that it of Mindfulness is developed and practiced would only be a matter of time before Buddhist sex abuse continuously, it will lead to success in the practice of scandals hit the cover of the New York Times. Of course the Seven Factors of Awaking. The Seven Factors of this has now actually happened multiple times in the Awakening, if developed and practiced continuously, last decade, most recently Andy Newman’s July 11, 2018, will give rise to understanding and liberation of the article titled “The King of Shambhala Buddhism is Undone mind.3 by Abuse Report.” There’s nothing like waking up to an article like that on the cover of the New York Times right Over time, due to a confluence of factors, Buddhist before walking into class to teach a summer course on teachings and culture nearly disappeared from India. These Buddhism. Like the comments I quoted above, I already factors included internal dissension, loss of patronage knew this about the Shambhala leader; I’ve heard stories from the royalty and wealthy donors such as Visakha and about his escapades for years. But knowing this and seeing Anathapindika, the revival of Brahmanism, and invasions. it splashed across the front page of the New York Times are Like most other Buddhist monasteries and sacred sites, two different things. Pubbarama was destroyed. Thanks to the pillars built by Emperor Asoka in 3 BCE, important Buddhist sites throughout the Indian subcontinent can still be identified. The ruins of Pubbarama and the that houses Mother Visakha’s ashes are yet to be excavated. Ironically, today the only thing that marks Pubbarama, the site where the Buddha spoke out against caste ideology and taught mindfulness of breathing, is a broken Asokan pillar in the shape of a Shiva lingam, worshiped by Hindu villagers. Appreciation and respect for Visakha’s contributions to human spiritual advancement call for the excavation and restoration of Pubbarama by the Indian authorities, with the support of the international Buddhist community NOTES It is no exaggeration to say that Buddhism is having its 1. Anguttara Nikāya 1, chap. 14. #MeToo moment. This has been a long time coming, and 2. , verse 53. it is urgent and necessary for this public reckoning to 3. Anapanasati Sutta, Majjhima Nikāya 118. take place. It is painful, and raises problematic questions. If, for example, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has known FROM RAPE TEXTS TO BRO BUDDHISM: about Sogyal Lakar’s abuse since 1990s, if it is “nothing CRITICAL CANONICAL AND CONTEMPORARY new” as he said, then why has it taken this long for the PERSPECTIVES ON THE SEX ABUSE SCANDALS IN leading hierarchs of to speak publicly WESTERN BUDDHISM about it? If Robert Aitken had been keeping such detailed by Sarah H. Jacoby records of forty years of Eido Shimano’s sexual predations (and we should be glad that he did), why was it not until The following is a response to a panel of the same title 2008 that his records were unsealed and shared across the organized by Ann Gleig and Amy Paris Langenberg at community? Bringing this closer to home, if we “all the American Academy of Religion Meeting in Denver, know” that sex abuse is rampant in American Buddhist Colorado on November 18, 2018. communities (and many outside America, too), then how “Everybody knows, yet no one ... has ever publicly spoken can we actively reduce this harm? out....” Ann Gleig began her paper with these words, What is it about American Buddhism and problems spoken by the Canadian Zen teacher Eshu Martin.1 And with money, sex, and power? Zen communities have been just a few months ago, in September of 2018, His Holiness exploding with successive sex abuse scandals.3 Over the the Dalai Lama responded to his meeting in Rotterdam past year, Tibetan Buddhist’ communities and individuals, with victims of sex abuse perpetrated by Sogyal Lakar by including the Rigpa and Shambhala communities, as well saying, “I already knew these things, nothing new.”2 These as Lama Norla’s center, Thubten Chöling, have all comments resonate because many of us, too, have known faced public crisis. Is this latest Buddhist sex abuse crisis about the problem of sex abuse in Buddhist contexts for a just another version of what happened in the Roman long time. There are now innumerable examples in North Catholic Church, an iteration of what’s going on elsewhere America and Europe, and in Asian Buddhist monasteries in the #MeToo movement, or something more specific to and religious communities more information about sex Buddhism? To what degree is the American Buddhist abuse is slowly coming to light. problem with sex abuse caused by Americans’ far-reaching As the Roman Catholic sex abuse crisis has proliferated ignorance about Buddhism, and to what degree is it inherited

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from Asian Buddhist traditions, such as the primacy of the critique (calls for solutions outside of Buddhism, such as -disciple relationship and conceptions that skillful feminism and psychotherapy); and (5) reductive critique means supersedes ethics? Do Buddhist canonical sources (the whole thing is a hopeless mess). I would be curious and cultures condone, critique, and/or ignore instances of to hear Gleig’s thoughts on how race, class, and sexuality what we would today define as “sex abuse”? Regardless of figure into and affect these different interpretive camps how we answer this last question, what is to be done about in online forums. Do the typologies such as this five-fold this now? one and the generational differences she articulates appear Given the scope of the problem of sex abuse in Buddhist in similar ways for people of color, those who are gender monastic and lay communities, it is remarkable how little nonconforming, or for Americans who come from multi- scholarship has been done on this topic to date. There generation Buddhist heritages? Are certain interpretive are some important journalistic pieces and books about strategies used more often in Zen communities, and others scandals in Buddhist communities for the general public, in Tibetan Buddhist communities? but there is ample room for further academic research on Based on Gleig’s use of the word “canonical,” defined the causes, conditions, historical precedents, recovery, and earlier in her paper as “interpretations that draw primarily prevention of sex abuse in Buddhist communities. The on Buddhist frameworks,” she is envisioning “canonical” papers in this panel do important work filling this gap, as an expansive Buddhist domain rather than a specific and I commend them all for tackling this controversial and set of authoritative Buddhist scriptures. Nevertheless, difficult subject with such careful attention and insight. thinking about canonical explanations for sex abuse There is much to be learned here from all of these papers. raises a question that several of these papers grapple with, Ann Gleig’s new book from Yale University Press, namely: Is this spate of sex abuse scandals in American American Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Modernity, is Buddhist communities an anomaly, or is it actually a part coming out in February, 2019. An important aspect of her of Buddhist tradition that Buddhist teachers are faithfully, work, addressed in her paper, “From Sweeping Zen to Open if excessively, importing? It becomes crucial, as several of Buddhism: Sex Scandals, Social Media, and Transparency these papers underscore, to know one’s Buddhist history. in Western Buddhism,” is the generational shift currently What resources can one find within Buddhist canonical taking place in American Buddhism from the liberal, sources that provide guidelines for sexual ethics and therapeutically-oriented baby boomer generation to Gen prohibitions against sexual misconduct? José Cabezón’s X Buddhist leadership, which she characterizes as more massive and important book Sexuality in Classical South progressive and politically-oriented. Her paper analyzes Asian Buddhism (Wisdom Publications, 2017), provides the Internet and social media as vehicles through which considerable guidance in answering this question. “an ethic of transparency” is taking root, as opposed to the Adding to this is Amy Langenberg’s paper, “Pleasure is cultures of secrecy that have enabled sex abuse. Consent: A Study of Rape Texts in the Vinaya,” in which Gleig provides many examples that lend credence to the she analyzes the definition of consent in Vinaya texts value of this transparency, including the online magazine that adjudicate what qualifies as rape, and what qualifies Sweeping Zen founded by Adam Tebbe in 2009, the “Open as sex leading to expulsion from the order. Langenberg Buddhism” Facebook group now operating under the name demonstrates that consent to sex is not about a willed “Contemporary Buddhism” started by Rob Hogendoorn, and decision to act, but rather about the presence or absence of online spaces for sex abuse victims to form community and sexual pleasure; in her words “pleasure itself is consent.” challenge hierarchical power structures, such as Buddhist This is completely different than contemporary definitions Project Sunshine started by Andrea Winn in 2017. Invoking of rape, which have nothing to do with the victim’s state Michel Foucault, Gleig raised an important reminder that of arousal. A few things stand out as particularly curious technologically mediated transparency does not eradicate about the world of the Vinaya that the author has enlivened the operations of power but rather rearticulates them. for us. First, one has to hand it to the authors of the Nonetheless, as Gleig suggests in her conclusion, “the Vinaya for comprehensiveness. The definition of sex that move toward transparency is an ethically essential and Langenberg retrieves from the Vinaya (the first pārājika legitimate one.” Central among those who have the most to for bhikkhunīs in the Mahāsāńghika-lokottaravāda) fear from the newly democratized online spaces in which defines sex as an insertive act involving vagina, anus, or Buddhist community members are talking to each other mouth with human, nonhuman, or animal partners that are those who stand to benefit most from secrecy, namely may either be awake, asleep/unconscious, or dead. All this, abusers and their apologists. including even necrophilia, and still only two genders are Another feature of Gleig’s paper that I found particularly mentioned with whom women are forbidden from having evocative is her five-fold typology of responses to situations sex – men or pandakas. The idea that women could have involving sex abuse in Buddhist contexts: (1) canonically sex with women is inconceivable based on this definition. defensive (victims dismissed); (2) Buddhist bad apple (one It is simply beyond the realm of possibility. bad guy, rest of them okay); (3) canonical critique (calls Second, what strikes me about the rules regarding what for Buddhist solutions such as ethics); (4) non-canonical constitutes rape in the Vinaya is the prevalence of both men

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and women acting as rapists. Take, for instance, the scene in the 1970s and 80s. There were no senior monastic abbots in the Vinaya where a group of six women happen upon or religious hierarchs, no elder relatives, and exceeding few an elderly homeless man sleeping outside beneath a tree Tibetan community members to put them in their place, and decide to mount him. The monk is later absolved of deflate their newly enhanced egos, or remind them of the any wrongdoing by the Buddha because he was sleeping ever-present dangers of the eight worldly . This throughout his victimization, though the Buddha does climate, paired with some charisma on Sogyal’s part, set suggest that monks should sleep indoors to prevent the stage for decades of abuse. women from taking advantage of them like this.4 How Hogendoorn is spot on in his assertion that elements does one understand scenes like this in which women of this kind of abuse of power could, and did, happen in are perpetrating rape? What does this tell us about early Tibetan contexts, and hence the importance of looking into Buddhist conceptions of female sexuality and agency? Tibetan history as a reference point for making sense of the What work is rape litigation doing in the Vinaya? present. However, his conclusion that the repeated history Third, I’m curious about how one understands the of Tibetan Buddhist reform movements can provide possible connections between canonical evidence of sexual a roadmap for how to investigate the qualifications of predation and its contemporary manifestations in Buddhist Tibetan Buddhist masters could use some further nuance. communities. Langenberg’s paper demonstrates that on the With figures such as Atiśa, Tsongkhapa, and Khenpo subject of rape as adjudicated in the Vinaya, desirelessness Jikmé Püntsok in mind, Hogendoorn explains that “Sexual is the bona fide Buddhist virtue, not respect for others’ malpractice under the guise of Buddhism gave rise to boundaries or nonviolence per se. What are we to do with Tibetan reformatory movements, right up until our present that today as we consider the limitations of consent caused day and age.” This is not quite accurate. Sexual malpractice by power differentials between and disciples (a topic has been a stated offence precipitating action by multiple that Emily Cohen’s paper also raises)? Last, drawing from a generations of Tibetan Buddhist reformers, but in practice conversation about José Cabezón’s book, is there anything we cannot lose sight of the fact that previous centuries’ worth saving here about early Buddhist understandings of Tibetan reformers have been involved in intersectarian consent?5 competition and contests for temporal power that had as The importance of knowing one’s Buddhist history is much to do with their spirit of reformation as sexual ethics also a central take-home message from Rob Hogendoorn’s did. It also needs to be noted that non-celibate religious paper, “The Making of a Lama: Interrogating Sogyal professionals, and ritual practices involving visualized and Rinpoche’s Pose as an Incarnate Master.” How can we literal sexuality are a part of “canonical Buddhism,” using determine the authenticity of Buddhist credentials held by Ann Gleig’s definition of canonical. a teacher such as Sogyal Lakar? On what grounds can we At one point, Hogendoorn displayed a list of negative say that Sogyal Lakar’s cavorting with a bunch of beautiful Tibetan words, such as zokpo (charlatan), dzunma (fake), young women he calls dākinīs is a manipulation of tantric and lokyem (sexual misconduct), but he also included as tradition? Here a careful understanding of the place of part of that list words that are not negative, but rather sexual in Tibetan Buddhist doctrine, ritual, and refer to non-celibate Tibetan religious identities such as culture is of paramount importance and is, by and large, serkhyim ( cleric) and khyim tsün (revered still unavailable to most European and American spiritual householder). These do not belong on the same list. And if, seekers given the esoteric nature of this topic. This is slowly as a child in Khyentsé Chökyi Lodrö’s household, Sogyal changing, and I think it needs to, because borrowing words witnessed what Hogendoorn describes as the “putative Wakoh Shannon Hickey uses in reference to American Zen, extension of ’ lifespan by sexual relations with young “This is a system ripe for abuse.” women,” this is perhaps extremely uncomfortable for One of the most convincing parts of Hogendoorn’s paper is us, but it is a well-attested aspect of “canonical” Tibetan his effort to present a counternarrative about Sogyal Lakar’s Buddhism. So understanding Buddhist history is indeed early life that demonstrates “the mutual construction of essential, but it is a complicated history, and one that needs authority and power between this Tibetan lama and his careful examination. western followers.” According to Hogendoorn, The Tibetan Returning to the topic of Sogyal’s dākinīs, some of Book of Living and Dying did not establish the resultant whom have filed lawsuits against him, it is difficult from image, it exploited it. This is a crucially important point. a strictly canonical perspective to assess whether Sogyal Western orientalist projections about Tibetans as ethereal, was violating tantric vows because this would depend on mystical, superhuman, enlightened beings enabled this whether or not he was acting with desire. According to enterprising displaced son of a once-prominent family of Tibetan Three Vow (sdom gsum) literature, even a monastic Tibetan traders to reinvent himself into the figure of their upholding prātimoksa vows including celibacy does not fantasies. The fawning audiences Tibetans like Sogyal violate those vows by having intercourse if he does so encountered mixed poorly with the utter lack of checks as a method “unstained by desire so that it is performed and balances that young Tibetan religious entrepreneurs as a practice.”6 I love Thondup’s summation of the found when they arrived in Europe and the United States difficulty of actually doing this, included in his introduction

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to the book Perfect Conduct: Ascertaining the Three Vows. He appear in Zen settings, including the intimacy of the writes, “Highly accomplished tantrics... can maintain the teacher-student relationship and the way in which vow of celibacy even if they have consorts, but such claims disciples are to view the teacher as enlightened. These are of attainment are authentic only if they are also able to bring both important in Tibetan contexts as well, and I wonder the dead back to life.”7 This is an example of the skepticism whether these elements explain why the greatest number or critique available within the Tibetan tradition. Tulku of American Buddhist sex abuse cases seem to be coming Thondup isn’t calling these practices pseudo or doubting from Zen and Tibetan communities. I also found Cohen’s their efficacy, but rather demanding an extremely high point about “White and Racialized Teachers” to standard of accountability, requiring practitioners to be be an important reminder to pay attention to the ways in honest about their capacities. With this in mind, we have which racial identity indexes authority and authenticity ample reason to doubt Sogyal Lakar and every reason to in Buddhist contexts. In what ways are racial stereotypes believe in the harm experienced by the women he abused. about Asian and white masculine authority factoring into In her paper “Teacher Misconduct in American Zen: the sex abuse scandals we have heard about today? A Cross-Cultural and Inter-religious Analysis,” Wakoh Once we have recognized the patterns of abuse that Cohen Shannon Hickey directs our attention to “the larger aptly describes, what suggestions can we make for how to cultural and historical contexts of clergy abuse” that she most effectively report and respond to these crises? It is a finds under-examined. She demonstrates that American depressing reality that there are now many more instances Zen has emphasized and charismatic of Buddhist communities’ post-sex abuse scandal recovery authority over the more routinized training credentials of processes to draw from, just as now there are more experts the Japanese Temple system. Reading this, I was struck in California who are well-versed in best practices for post- by the ways in which American Zen has modeled itself wildfire search and recovery. Which communities seem to according to Americans’ stereotype of Zen as iconoclastic, be healing and processing effectively, and what patterns ineffable, and anti-ritual more than it has on the actual of recovery would Cohen identify, whether they pertain to tradition it purports to transmit. Hickey rebuilding a Buddhist community or moving on after its notes that American Zen leaders have no independent closure? What are the best ways to prevent sex abuse from oversight or requirements, aside from receiving Dharma happening in the first place in Buddhist contexts? Transmission from their teachers. Given Zen teachers lack I conclude by reiterating the importance of talking about of systematic education in pastoral care, Hickey concludes this topic, no matter how divisive and unpleasant it can that “this is a system ripe for abuse.” Indeed, she makes a be. I think about this in terms of my daughter, who is ten strong case for why this is so. She offers a final suggestion years old right now and very eager to become a teenager. that looking toward Protestant ways of developing church I ask myself, “Which American Buddhist communities leaders, namely seminary education, could be instructive pass my litmus test as places that I’d feel comfortable with for Zen teachers as well. What would the ideal Buddhist her forming closer ties?” To be honest, I find this a hard seminary education consist of? What specific forms call, given the extent of sex abuse in American Buddhist of oversight and regulation does she recommend the communities. So, for our children and those in our American Zen community adopt to lessen the blow of communities not to have to experience the kinds of things sex abuse scandals? Are their elements of Asian Buddhist that so many of us have gone through, it’s time to take sex tradition that Hickey would recommend or elide? abuse in Buddhist contexts more seriously through talking Finally, as Emily Cohen points out in her paper, “Sexual about it, listening to survivors, examining the causes and Abuse by Zen Teachers in the United States: Naming conditions that make certain Buddhist communities “ripe the Patterns,” “Abuse is about patterns”; knowing how for abuse,” and contributing to an American Buddhist to recognize these patterns can help communities future in which all practitioners are protected from harm. acknowledge and address problems faster. Cohen’s list Sarah H. Jacoby is an associate professor of Religious of these patterns is familiar and aptly underscores her Studies at Northwestern University. Her research interests statement that “Abuse is about power and control.” Whether include Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, gender and sexuality, or not a religious teacher is celibate, sexual contact between Tibetan literature, the history of emotions, and Buddhism gurus and disciples causes harm in that it is a violation of in contemporary Tibet. She is the author of Love and role, it is a misuse of power and authority, it takes advantage Liberation: Autobiographical Writings of the Tibetan of vulnerability, and it is absent of meaningful consent. Buddhist Visionary Sera Khandro (Columbia University Regarding this latter point about consent, Cohen concludes Press, 2014). that “given the previously mentioned factors of role, power, NOTES and vulnerability, meaningful consent within a teacher- 1 http://sweepingzen.com/everybody-knows-by-eshu-martin. student relationship is generally not possible.” I’m curious 2 https://vaaju.com/colombiaeng/dalai-lama-confirmed-that- to hear what sort of conversation Cohen and Langenberg he-was-aware-of-sexual-abuse-of-buddhist-teachers-since-1990. might have about the topic of consent. 3 Richard Baker at the San Francisco Zen Center, Taizan Cohen notes particular elements of sex abuse as they Maezumi and Dennis Genpo Merzel at the Zen Center of Los

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Angeles, Dainen Katagiri at the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center, imparted. Rinzai teachers Eido Tai Shimano and Joshu Sasaki, and most Two years after the back injury, I was diagnosed with a recently there are allegations against Noah Levine at Against the rare gastrointestinal cancer. This terrifying diagnosis was Stream, which closed down on September 30, 2018. compounded by the fact that my father died from colon cancer 4 Vinaya Pitaka III.38-39 as referenced in John Powers, A Bull at the age of 57. His two-year decline was tortuous, starting of a Man: Images of Masculinity, Sex, and the Body in Indian with delayed diagnosis, through ineffective treatment, to an Buddhism (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009), 67. excruciatingly painful death. When I received a diagnosis 5 In the context of considering Buddhist sexual ethics, José of Stage 3 cancer with nodal involvement, I thought it was Cabezón asks, “Is there anything worth saving in the ancient karmic retribution and envisioned an abbreviated future. texts, or are they so oppressive and outdated that they should be At this point, I had begun my graduate studies and was jettisoned so as to allow for a fresh start?” (Sexuality in Classical uncertain about completing my Ph.D. I remember crying South Asian Buddhism, Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2017), 520. uncontrollably for weeks and screaming at a colleague 6 Ngari Panchen Pema Wangyi Gyalpo, Perfect Conduct: over the phone. How could my doctor deliver the news of Ascertaining the Three Vows, trans. Khenpo Gyurme Samdrub a malignant diagnosis in a phone message? The treatment – and Sangye Khandro (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1996), 142. chemo, then radiation therapy – was harrowing. How could 7 Ibid., xi. my suffering assuage the assault of karma?

DISABILITY, ILLNESS, AND DHARMA: A TALE OF THREE LIVES by Lynn Merrill Weyman

Every morning when I awaken, before my mind starts its usual churning, I breathe five times, sweeping quickly up and down the length of my body. In/out, up/down, I count the exhalations. This practice of mindful concentration – the fact that I can coherently follow these steps – lets me know that I am in the present moment and not lost in some intensely vivid dream. My pulse and heartbeat clue me that I am alive for another day in this familiar realm. Again for another day, I embrace Dharma teachings as guiding principles that direct my experience. I am not a devout practitioner. I wouldn’t even call myself a disciple. I am merely a stumbling beginner. My initial experience with Dharma practice – the Three Jewels, right view, and meditation – occurred some five decades ago. While going through cancer treatment in San Diego, I was In Miami, Florida, I encountered a small group of people referred to a nearby Buddhist group. The hospital social dedicated to “ yoga” and joined their community. workers said that mindfulness practice was a good way to At the time, I did not completely appreciate the lives of my deal with all that had occurred. But any mindfulness practice friends. Their silent retreats, raw vegan foods, and laudable I might have had completely disappeared. service to the local community were unfamiliar, almost For several years after radiation, I experienced mystifying incomprehensible. But life has a way of knocking one on the and debilitating gastrointestinal symptoms. My doctors head; the knock may not lead to enlightenment, but it may at initially suspected it was radiation-induced damage. My body least shove one toward the path. For me, however, the path was thin, frail, anemic, and exhausted. After many specialists took many turns due to several traumatic events. and many tests, I was diagnosed with celiac disease (CD). Roughly twelve years ago, at the age of 46, I suffered a back CD is an autoimmune disorder in which the body cannot injury that kept me mostly bed-ridden for nearly a year. I digest the gluten found in wheat, barley, and rye and attacks had just gone back to college as a “returning student” with itself. These foods became lurking enemies, with the world steadfast determination to complete my degrees, starting divided between “safe” and “unsafe.” Not only was a slice with my Bachelor’s. With the unstinting help of my partner, of bread off-limits, but even the facility where the bread was I managed to attain this goal. But for months on end, the baked. Not only was a piece of chocolate risky, but also the pain was relentless. What was initially acute pain turned delicate flour dust on the wrapping. Pasta, once a staple, was into chronic pain, and I could no longer move or sit without unapproachable. I thought that my condition might be the a great deal of discomfort, I discovered the truth of dukkha karmic consequence of my odd propensity as a child of hiding (distress) firsthand. This wassamsara , the wheel of suffering. bakery goods in my bedroom dresser drawers. The doctors I was convinced of the truth of the Buddha’s teachings but assumed that I had inherited the disease from my father. not yet ready to actualize the wisdom he and so many others Previously dormant, the disorder had been exacerbated by

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the radiation. My studies languished as I grappled with this world is a gift involving causes and conditions. My major health challenges. dukkha, I learned, was not unique, nor was it mine, per se. I The most recent knock on my head, quite literally, came had been clinging to greed, hatred, and delusion based on two years ago when I suffered several Grand Mal seizures. the illusory concept of “self.” But clinging to the notion of I awoke in a hospital, not knowing how I got there, unable inherent identity had only held me captive and isolated. to recognize my partner of 13 years, not even sure what a Gradually, my attachment to the illusory “self” became partner was. After I was released from the hospital, I could weaker, as the Dharma pointed to a healthier understanding not even make coffee, a task I had completed thousands of of self-awareness. I began a daily meditation practice and times. I could not indicate the correct time on the face of an joined the local Buddhist sangha, understood today in North analog clock, nor could I recognize depth perception in a America as a community of fellow practitioners. As we cube. Driving was forbidden – my license was taken away recounted our different experiences on and off the cushion, in the hospital. My body slept for a month straight, while one common theme became apparent. Dukkha is pervasive my brain had dreams so vivid that I was convinced of their and touches everyone’s life in some way. Karma, I came to illusions. Reality became delusional. The seizures had also learn, is simply cause and effect. It is we who complicate our wiped away my memory from the previous three years or lives through misconceptions, misinterpretations, and the so. I was convinced that I had not seen some friends in years, imposition of opinions and judgments. Renunciation, letting when it had only been a matter of weeks. Conversely, I was go of the illusory “self” and accepting the fleeting nature convinced I’d been in recent contact with people I’d actually of this vast universe, is the key to contentment. Dharma not spoken to for a decade or more. I could not remember one replaces the “I, me, mine.” thing about a trip I’d taken to Uruguay only weeks before To say that Dharma and mindfulness have touched every the seizures. aspect of my life is an understatement. I take seriously those Everything was foreign. I had literally lost myself, and the Buddhist precepts that urge the cultivation of compassion and recovery of my identity has been a strange, ongoing journey. wisdom; I necessarily started small. Surveying the tangible As I write this, I am exercising vestigial muscles, much like objects of my journey thus far, I reflected on the baskets and reciting a . Prior to my seizures, I had been clinically pottery I’ve collected over the years. Created by indigenous depressed. Chronic back pain and cancer had taken the spark communities throughout the world, some have traveled of life out of me. While chronic pain tests one’s endurance, with me for decades. Some began as twigs and branches, chemotherapy is unmistakably a form of lethal poisoning, meticulously selected, steamed or soaked, then bent into pushing the body to the brink of demise. Radiation, a poison shape; others began as clay I witnessed being carved from in its own right, may give rise to other forms of cancer. Grand the earth. I pondered the many hands that made them. My Mal seizures are a form of petite mort. During seizures, the closets and drawers were filled with wondrous textiles that body stops breathing. Limbs become clenched and rigid, I barely remembered collecting. Numerous books told me as in rigor mortis, the third stage of death, when chemical where my mind has been. But this is not who I am anymore. processes in the muscles slowly come to an end. Yet, while Accruing and clinging to objects is one way we attempt to consciousness ceases during seizures, brain activity does reinforce our constantly shifting identity, but these are merely not, and it can be quite intense. Amnesia often results from impressions, not reality. Winnowing these possessions has this natural form of electric shock therapy. My brain scans been a profound practice of dana (generosity), giving away revealed a pattern of lesions suggestive of multiple sclerosis whatever I truly do not need. (MS), an autoimmune disorder in which the body erodes Practicing ahimsa (non-harm), I value the life of all sentient sheaths covering the central nervous system of the brain and beings. A “have-a-heart” trap allows me to catch wayward spinal column. This news was the last blow. Wrung inside mice, then relocate any furry interlopers to the fields and out and in tatters, I had finally arrived at the temple gate. At release them. I try to focus on right thought, right speech, and last, I was ready to receive the Dharma. right action, but habitual kilesas (destructive emotions) are In San Diego, I was referred to a nearby Buddhist group. deeply rooted, and sometimes I utter unskillful words. My The social workers said that mindfulness practice was a good little dog, Alice Lucille, keeps me mindful of these precepts. way to deal with all that had occurred. This community has If I say such a word in a fit of unskillful emotion, she senses continued to sustain and encourage me up to this day. my distress and comes running. She leans her body weight Dukkha (distress) takes many forms. Clinging is a persistent into one front paw as she places that paw on my arm or thigh, form of dukkha – longing to grasp the ungraspable. Anicca expressing concern and offering comfort. This reminds me () is another form. Many years ago, it was that the power of right speech and right intention must be just a concept, but as I returned to the texts, it began to carefully cultivated. make perfect sense. Memory is fallible, but living in the Slowly, I was able to get back to work. Fortunately, the present moment with wisdom became a corrective. Oddly seizures did not affect the language center of my brain. Still, enough, post-seizures, the veil of depression had lifted. I it’s taken a few years to regain the confidence to write, edit, eagerly embraced the and the Eightfold and find my own voice. To hear someone’s voice on the Path. Dukkha, I learned, was not personal. Being born into page requires skillful listening, balancing the flow of the

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words with the wisdom to discern the intent. This is not particularly Christianity. All these religions have their own a contradiction. The written word has a voice and to hear buildings for organizing activities and, with the help of it we must practice the art of letting go. Mindfulness and international investment, have the means to introduce many meditation practice are crucial in this process. special services. With so many resources, these religions make Day by day, the simple act of breathing amazes me. a big impression in the minds of the people. My objective Practicing mindfulness of breathing (), I relish is to help Mongolian Buddhists have greater access to their following my breath. Our breath is the gift of life. Practicing own Buddhist religious heritage. I am strongly committed insight (vipassana), I see the body (kāya) as a sacred temple to working for Buddhism on the local level. for gaining understanding. Our breath recalls the breath of the Buddha, rejuvenating us like water recycled in the atmosphere. Water stains in the house no longer annoy me. They are precious reminders of impermanence (anicca). Dukkha arises from expectations about the outer world. Dharma insists that we are responsible for our actions and that we do the inner work required to change. I am heartened by the words of wise teachers who enrich my knowledge. With infinite wisdom and compassion, the Buddha’s awakening indeed changed the world, most importantly from within. I want to follow his lead.

WOMEN IN MONGOLIAN BUDDHIST CULTURE Altantsetseg Jadamba, translated by Otgoo Tseveldorj

I live with my two children, a son and a daughter, in My aim is to promote awareness of Buddhism in the Tarialan District of Khuvsgul Province in northwestern countryside. My central tasks include publicizing and Mongolia. I was born in nearby Zavkhan Province in 1976 implementing Buddhist activities for local nomadic people as the oldest child in a family of six. After high school, I and their children living there, especially the herders who studied to be a chef at a college in Ulaanbaatar, the capital live in remote rural areas, far from urban centers. The most of Mongolia. I managed the canteen at the college for awhile, successful method of promoting Buddhism locally has been then worked as an assistant chef in a Russian restaurant through religious arts festivals. Publicizing Buddhism in this called Bistro. I enjoy cooking a lot, especially international way incorporates performances and other aspects of Buddhist dishes, and my cooking also brings happiness to others. art and culture that nomadic people find very interesting In 2010, I had the great opportunity to join Sakyadhita and beneficial. In cooperation with lamas from the local International Association on Buddhist Women as a monastery, we have been organizing local religious arts representative of Mongolian Buddhist women. The next festivals two to three times every each year since 2013. During year, I met Karma Lekshe Tsomo and Christie Chang when the festivals, we offer concerts and other performances, they visited Mongolia and was fortunate to take part in the religious events, and awards. We give little presents to the Sakyadhita International Conference on Buddhist Women elderly and the children. I also do my best to provide free that was held in Ulaanbaatar. The year 2013 was a fantastic training programs, including distributing books provided time for me. Doing voluntary charity work made me feel through Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist intensely alive and active. Since joining Sakyadhita, I have Women and organizing English training with volunteers learned more about Buddhist woman in Mongolia and provided through Jamyang Foundation. Every day, many become inspired to do whatever I can for the Buddha and local people visit my home requesting assistance. Buddhist women in my country. Currently, I am one of the Often, I think about how to go forward with this work. leaders of the Women’s Union in Tarialan, Khuvsgul. What is the best way to handle the difficulties since Buddhist is culturally unique. Sadly, however, schools for women in Mongolia do not exist, not even for there are only a few Buddhist centers for women there. While nuns? Information about Buddhism is very scarce, but many Buddhist centers for male practitioners have been in somehow the women who are devoted to the Buddha have existence for centuries, those for women have been few in not lost their faith. comparison. As a result, Buddhism is very unbalanced in From the start, when I begin organizing these events, I am terms of gender equality in Mongolia. immediately faced with the problems of finding money and Nevertheless, developing Buddhist women’s potential space for them. We should, theoretically, have a Buddhist in this country should be easy since Buddhism is the center that includes a proper prayer hall and library in it, but dominant religion of Mongolia and about 80 percent of the in reality information about the practice of Buddhism and population identifies as Buddhist. Unfortunately, many other facilities such as these are lacking in Mongolia. As a result, religions have been streaming into Mongolia in recent years, I serve the local people in my home. My goal is to create a

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Buddhist tour that includes all the provinces of Mongolia we can be proud of our ancestors’ insight into such successful to publicize and promote the Dharma, and also to provide treatments. We can clearly see the wisdom in preserving the Buddhist education to the herders’ children. knowledge and methods of our ancestors. I am delighted to be a member of Sakyadhita. Having Śākyamuni Buddha’ s Discovery loving Buddhist sisters around the world is quite encouraging The founder of Buddhism was born into a royal family to me. In my hands I hold very important religious treasures in India and gave up all worldly pleasures upon seeing that I have inherited from my ancestors. Over the course of their unsatisfactory nature. He left his family to seek lasting my life, I have recognized the great responsibility I have happiness for all sentient beings. His quest for enlightenment to share these treasures, passed down from generations of was inspired by seeing three forms of suffering that are ancestors. I am dedicated to passing them on, to ensure their unavoidable: aging, illness, and death. Great compassion existence for generations to come. led him to seek a universal solution to suffering, a way that all beings could follow to find freedom. After six years of BUDDHIST PREVENTION OF MENTAL DISORDERS intense ascetic practices and determination, through serious by Geshe Tenzin Kunsel study, contemplation, and meditation practices, he attained perfect awakening. Material development in the world today is rapidly hurtling forward with an exceptional and often unfortunate impact on human ethics and behavior. The contemporary way of life has become a major source of mental suffering, and its effects have reached epidemic proportions in our global society, presenting humanity with one of its greatest challenges ever. At this critical juncture, for several years now the members of the Body, Mind, and Life Conference at the Tibetan Medical Centre (Men-Tsee-Khang) in Dharamsala (India) have been engaged in organizing scholarly discussions about preventing mental disorders. I feel this kind of discussion is much needed and feel grateful for efforts that address this important topic. Here I would like to share my ideas based on Buddhist ways of dealing with emotional disturbances.

Preserving Our Ancestors’ Healing Ways When we look on the positive side of humanity’s ancestral wisdom, we find progressive discoveries about many mental disorders. In every cultural tradition, there are certain preventive measures that have been passed down through the wisdom of the ancestors and are still practiced effectively in societies today. In Tibetan culture, for example, our people have investigated healing biological and emotional disorders for centuries. We have learned about healing herbs After attaining , he taught the Four Noble and studied the physical body to learn about winds (lung), Truths and many other effective measures to end suffering. channels, and energy flow, and this knowledge has been He studied the major scientific texts of the time, quickly skillfully used by Tibetan doctors. We have also developed mastering them all. Analyzing these teachings, he soon spiritual healing, which is used by our spiritual masters. realized that these spiritual systems were imperfect. The The Blue Annals, written by Desi Sangye Gyatso in the 17th Buddha clearly saw that by following them only brief, century, is a Tibetan medical book of historic renown. Tibetan temporary relief could be gained, but not ultimate happiness medicine has its roots in the ancient indigenous culture of and liberation from suffering. His deepest insights involved Tibet and was greatly expanded in the 8th century under the the nature of reality, including the nature of mind. instruction of King , who organized a large Today we increasingly find that these teachings are medical conference at Samye Monastery in Tibet, which effective ways of treating all types of disturbing emotions was attended by physicians from China, India, Nepal, East and suffering. These practices are the source of everlasting Turkistan, and Persia. Ancient knowledge of herbal medicine happiness and deep, stable, and clear mental peace. According has been preserved and passed down to generations for over to my understanding, Buddhist preventive measures are a thousand years. In 1916, His Holiness the presented in two ways: a temporary way to find peace, and founded the Men-Tsee-Khang, the official medical institution a way resulting in permanent ultimate happiness. Here of Tibet. Worldwide, there are remedies for mental disorders I will only speak about the first, since the second is quite in every culture. Those methods are extremely helpful and complicated and the first is most relevant to a discussion

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of mental disorders. These ways were further clarified by We can confirm this through our own experience, learned Chandrakirti, the 7th-century Indian Buddhist master of from our ancestors’ way of life. We can clearly see the benefits Nalanda, who stated, “All mental afflictions arise from the of peace of mind compared to the challenges and problems view of perceiving an independent self-entity.” In other of contemporary life. words, our minds become disturbed because the way we see Physical objects are quite different. According to and understand ourselves as independent individuals and Dharmakirti’s text on logic, physical objects are limited, or other phenomena as inherently existent is not an accurate measurable, in terms of change, whether good or bad. For view of the nature of reality. This is the root of all mental example, if we continue boiling water in a kettle, eventually disturbance. Chandrakirti further taught that we can stop all we get to a point where not even a single drop of water wrong thinking and mental disorders by applying a direct remains. This shows that there is an end. However, in the antidote to each of the afflictive emotions. case of mind, we know that change is endless. We can develop our mind infinitely. For this reason, we must strive Nature of Mind to eliminate the causes of all emotional disorders. This is In order to develop insight into how this is possible, it is definitely achievable, if we make the effort. important for us to understand the nature of the mind. There are several terms in Buddhism used to describe it: mental How Do Emotional Disturbances Come Into Existence? consciousness, awareness, , or mental continuum. Mental illness is a factor of the afflicted emotions. These Mind travels with our body the way a shadow follows the arise primarily because we reify the world around us. His body. While we are alive, the mind and body are inseparable. Holiness the Dalai Lama frequently quotes a scientist who But when the physical body ceases, the mind stream flows says that 99 percent of what we see and feel is our mental on to new experiences. Buddhism describes the nature of projection. By not applying antidotes to the root of ignorance our mind as being clear and luminous. All defilements in our relationships with others, for example in the home or are superficial or adventitious. Mental defilements are workplace, many opportunities for disturbing emotions such impermanent and are not embedded in the nature of mind. as attachment and hatred arise. Other factors that contribute They have no solid existence and are merely conditions that to emotional disorders are wealth, economic stress, alcohol, arise and pass away. sexual desire, family members, and domestic animals. These The nature of mind can be explained based on the ancient are major causes of ignorance because they create a false view Indian texts of logic. Mind is not a physical object, but is of reality and solidify the viewpoint of self and others as produced in dependence upon its causes and conditions. separate entities. Other factors, such as an imbalance of the Mind cannot be seen with the eyes, nor can it be touched. elements within one’s body, can cause mental or emotional It is like clear transparent space, naturally pure. Mind, or disorders like depression. mental continuum, has no beginning and no end. Mind As the result of these disorders, many conflicts may arise is not defiled by any impurities of the afflictions. Unlike on the personal level, in the family, community, society, and physical or material objects, which are limited, the more country. These include war between nations, separation we train our mind in ethics, the more spiritual qualities from family members, and even suicide. Eventually, future such as compassion and loving kindness can be developed, generations have to face the problems made by those who without end. Training the mind is powerful and allows for come before them. This much is clear. Examples of these the elimination of all three types of suffering that living problems include abuse of alcohol and drugs, killing animals beings encounter. for meat or skins, ignorantly fishing for entertainment, harassment of the poor by the rich, extracting and smuggling Boundless Motherly Love human organs by force, marketing polluted food products, One example is the love of a mother for her child. During the sexual abuse, and human trafficking. These may result mother’s time with her child, love tends to grow increasingly in suffering due to emotional disorders. In short, human deeper and seemingly without end. If we extend limitless beings foolishly engage in many self-destructive actions by love to all living beings in the same way, we can develop an mistakenly considering them a way to find happiness. The infinite depth of love and appreciation. When we love this result is just the opposite, producing only suffering. way, it makes us very comfortable and happy inside and we There are multiple causes of hatred: threatening and can live a long life without obstacles or problems. bullying; greed for the property of others; lack of contentment We know these benefits well and can clearly see them in with one’s own possessions; and strong attachment to the our own life experiences, without learning about them from fleeting pleasures of worldly life, such as food, clothes, sex, books. We also know these benefits from examining our money, and reputation. These may all act as a catalyst for parents’ and grandparents’ societies and lives. With love, we imbalanced mental attitudes that exaggerate what is attractive can engage in more openhearted work. We will have more and underestimate what is unattractive. These states of mind peace of mind and a happier future life. The more peaceful are basically associated with the ego or self-cherishing. The our minds are, the fewer physical and mental disorders we selfish mind induces too strong an attachment to oneself, will experience, and the longer and more joyfully we can live. and produces negative emotions, including hatred towards

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others. These unfortunate experiences are the result of over- It is also beneficial to lead a balanced life that is neither indulgence in unethical behaviors under the control of the greedy nor stingy. For this, we have to restrain our sense self-cherishing mind. faculties to reduce attachment to sensual pleasures. We then need to make an effort to lead our present life more Method of Emotional Disorder meaningfully, not getting stuck thinking about the past There are two preventive methods for emotional disorders: and not hoping for the impossible, which may bring great temporary and ultimate. The temporary method can be used disappointment in the future. By avoiding these two extreme to solve mental disorders short-term, and this may produce modes of thought, we can minimize or resolve the world’s short-term happiness for oneself. It does not remove the root conflicts which are deeply associated with greed or desire. of our suffering, but it can improve our situation. This can What are the benefits of controlling emotional disorders? be done by removing problematic external conditions. If The greatest benefits are that people around us can enjoy a one has a good place to live, food, clean water, and enough true sense of well-being, both temporarily and in the long resources, one can intentionally avoid physical and mental term. We can preserve the rich legacy of ethics bequeathed problems. This is quite difficult, however, since it depends by our ancestors and proudly pass it down to the next on conditions such as livelihood and resources, but it is generation. We will rest assured that we have followed the beneficial to mental peace and calm. best advice and led our lives following the Buddha, who gave We need to make good use of mental peace and calm. unmistaken instructions that led us to the highest happiness. For example, it is better to transform one’s mental state We are now in a period of great chaos and degeneration. into a neutral state when intense anger pops up, because This is the ideal time for us to think carefully and deeply an immediate change to a positive state of mind is next to about preventive measures for emotional disorders. Let impossible. When a strong attachment develops, one needs us reexamine the measures discovered by our forebearers to meditate on the undesirable aspects of that object. In the and add some of our own solutions. Let us not waste our case of physical attraction or attachment to a person, we can precious time just criticizing modern external and material reflect on the nature of that body as being full of impurities advancement; instead, we should try hard to reduce our such as flesh, blood, and pus. overwhelming human-made mental disorders. Using a In today’s world, people pay more attention to general Buddhist approach, we can slowly uproot them, because academic subjects in their studies, and expect a kind of these disorders are not permanent conditions. We need spiritual healing or guidance from them that serves only to apply these methods soon. If we do nothing to remedy their immediate aims in this life, but not in the next life. Most and heal disturbing emotions, great suffering for future people think that their problems will be solved by someone generations will result. else or will end at death. At the same time, they neglect to As Śantideva says in the Guide to the Bodhisattava’ s Way train their minds, feeling that mental development is only for of Life, “There is nothing here that has not been explained the religious. They also may not have much concern for the before and I have no skill in the art of rhetoric.” What I have welfare of others. When meeting with unbearable problems, presented here is not something new that has never been different imagined stories or negative thoughts can easily explained before. Nor have I explained all this as a learned dominate the mind, resulting in feelings of despair. person. I am merely speaking from my own experience and At such times, using one’s breath as the object of what I have learned from my spiritual teacher, His Holiness concentration is extremely effective in learning to calm down. the Dalai Lama. May his enlightened aspirations be fulfilled! This is known as mindfulness of breathing. We focus on the Geshe Tenzin Kunsel was a student in the first graduating class sensation of the breath as it enters and leaves the nostrils. of Tibetan Buddhist female monastics to earn the esteemed Geshe All problems associated with negative thoughts soon cease. degree in 2016. Most importantly, we should not disregard the precious words of early scholars from all traditions. We should not BUDDHIST-CHRISTIAN DIALOGUE: allow the wisdom to go in one ear and out the other. For “MULTIPLE BELONGING” example, we often try to rescue animals or stop them from by Eleanor Pontoriero being killed by donating money. If we attentively listen to the advice of our early scholars, we soon realize that In this essay, I would like to address the concept of “multiple giving up eating meat is the most compassionate way of belonging” within the context of modern human rights. saving animals. Whatever we do, our motivation should be In addressing the rights of women and girls in the global influenced by love and compassion. So many ancient scholars community, for example, the challenge is the gap between from traditions around the world have taught this. This is theory (written documents) and praxis (implementation, the most important responsibility of each person; otherwise, reinforcement, protection). African-American professor of our emotional disorders will not be reduced. If our actions law Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw explains that gender-based are genuinely motivated by love and compassion, we will violence is intersectional – multiple forms of oppression become more sympathetic to the welfare of others. I believe reinforce one another (i.e., gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexual this will eventually help us solve all the world’s problems. orientation). The intersectional approach to human rights

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is central. One example is General Recommendation No. 35, say. This listening requires and at the same time results in adopted in 2017 by the Committee on the Elimination of vulnerability on the part of the powerful, an attitude that will Discrimination against Women, to eliminate gender-based lead them to understand how they benefit from oppressive violence against women. structures and how they contribute to the oppression of Intersectionality locates gender-based violence on the those whose cries are awakening them to their own injustice. individual, social, and structural levels, and includes physical, This is all part of a process of conversion that results in mental, economic, social-political, religious, and cultural the oppressor being in solidarity with the oppressed, in forms of violence. While educational and legal reforms are using his/her privileges to undo oppressive structures. The essential, these do not eradicate the deep conditioning that oppressor has now become “friend” and has to establish a is the root of violence. The legal sphere often deflects our dialogic relationship—a relationship of mutuality with the personal and social responsibility because responding to oppressed. It is within this relationship of mutuality that suffering is optional rather than imperative; what is lawful both the dominant and the subordinate agents empower and unlawful may not always be the same as what is morally each other, that liberative power is exercised.2 just. For example, it may be unlawful to intervene in the affairs of a state, but it may be morally just to do so in the case Buddhist Liberation of genocide. Take, for instance, the persecution of Rohingya For Buddhist practitioners and responsible citizens of in Burma or violence against women and girls. Legal reforms, the global community, the Dhamma has the potential to global and local, are essential. In the case of Burma, the eradicate deep-seated cultural and personal attitudes that violence is perpetrated by some who are Buddhists. Why may then transform the legal and political spheres. Buddhist and how is this possible? mindfulness is informed primarily by the ethic of non- harming (ahimsa) of self and others. This ethic includes both Christian Liberation a negative formulation (refraining from harming beings, The modern human rights movement is a legal and including all violence both individual and social) and a political response to a religious question, both Buddhist and positive formulation (creating the causes and conditions to Christian. In feminist Christian liberation theology, human support the dignity and rights of every being and eliminating rights abuses can be framed in terms of human-centered those that do not). The are gifts to oneself and theodicy: Why suffering? How should we respond? Sister others.3 The practice of Buddhist mindfulness is a path to Jamie Phelps, an African-American Christian theologian, says cultivating freedom from animosity and oppression. This that socially constructed evil involves patterns of relationship way of living creates safety for oneself and others; it is called that deny the human dignity and value of some human abhayadāna or the gift to others of freeing them from fear. beings for the benefit of other human beings. These patterns For example, Thai Buddhist feminist Ouyporn Khuankaew of dehumanizing and marginalizing contradict the doctrine articulates “noble mindfulness” in this way: that all human beings are made in the image and likeness of God. Such dehumanization is the source of existential and “We use the Buddha’s teaching of mindfulness physical suffering, sometimes including death. Those who and compassion to move our feminist intellectual consciously participate in the construction and perpetuation analysis to the ‘heart’ level, to understand gender of socially sinful institutions, which mediate existential oppression and violence against women. We suffering and death, participate in what is designated morally incorporate the terms and language of Buddhism as social sin.1 when talking about the concepts of activism or Why do human beings create and perpetuate evil by de- feminism. For example, the feminist analysis of humanizing others? How are we complicit with structural, structural oppression is collective kamma (: inter-personal, and personal violence? By re-framing modern karma). When we work for social change, it is about human rights discourse in theological terms, the goal is practicing wisdom and compassion, which is a liberation from suffering. Here there is a deep resonance with core teaching by the Buddha.”4 the Buddhist concern with suffering and its end. Ada-Maria Isasi-Diaz, a Latina liberation theologian, says our response In Buddhist practice, deep transformation is possible in must be both spiritual and political. For her, salvation and the spiritual cultivation of mind and heart. This is key to liberation means realizing the kin-dom of God in history. This eradicating discrimination, hatred, and violence against is also the goal of recognizing that all human beings are equal others within ourselves, and to effecting change outside in dignity and rights. The task of human rights activists is to ourselves. This direct realization allows for the radical create the conditions that support, protect, and nourish life possibility of change. Oppressive conditions are not and to eradicate the conditions that oppress and violate the permanent, views about ourselves and others are not fixed, dignity of life. In describing this liberation, Isasi-Diaz says, but are based on social conditioning that we internalize. The process of solidarity, like the process of power and Re-conditioning, by cultivating wholesome qualities such of justice, starts with the cry of the oppressed, with the as compassion, can transform habitual conditioning. The oppressor listening intently to what the oppressed have to gradual cultivation of Buddhist mindfulness is indivisible

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from practicing the five lay precepts, developing an ethical as Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, or secular), sensitivity, and following the eightfold path. students are encouraged to do this practice at home and to Compassion becomes the moral compass for our actions, formulate an intention or devotional prayer that is in keeping recognizing that no one is free from harm unless we are with their values. They may also formulate questions to guide all free from harm. We are interdependent: oppressors are their reflections on how this practice may be a tool to work for imprisoned by their ignorance and the oppressed are bound social justice and may their spiritual practice. In this by the ignorance of others. Each individual’s commitment to way, they can link the spiritual and political dimensions in refrain from harming others creates the conditions for others meaningful ways. These practices provide a structure for the to be free from harm. Not killing life creates the conditions upper-level seminar. Student presentations and discussions for others’ right to life. Thus, the precept of non-harming are included in the guidelines for council, using a talking guides our actions of body, speech, and mind. Not harming piece and ground rules, to develop empathic, non-judgmental, is the means by which we protect the rights of one another. and mindful listening (and speaking), encouraged by the This moral sensitivity works in tandem with legal protections. sharing of intentions and reflections. The Buddhist understanding of kamma as volitional action If our vow is to work toward the alleviation of suffering, is is dynamic, not static. We create kamma moment by moment. this a Buddhist or Christian practice? In the classroom, what Actions and intentions plant seeds that manifest on both the matters is that mindfulness practices are meaningful for the individual and social levels, ripening either as individual students within the context of their lives and faith, and that and structural liberation or oppression. The effects of our they inspire them to move in the direction of human rights actions may not always be immediately visible, but may and peacebuilding. In light of the recent murders at the ripen in the future, near or far. These seeds condition our Tree of Life Synagogue in Philadelphia, one Iranian Muslim responses, creating habitual patterns that result in well-being expressed how mindful listening can help her to hear from or suffering. Unwholesome seeds may result in perceptions her Jewish brothers and sisters about how she could be of that stereotype, discriminate, or otherwise condition the assistance. She recalled that her religious brothers and sisters relationships between oppressor and oppressed. The rallied after the shootings at a mosque in Quebec city in teachings of the Buddha help us eliminate habitual patterns January 2017, but she felt no one just listened to her experience. that create suffering for ourselves and others. This is the An African Roman Catholic student expressed her eightfold path of liberation. willingness to take up mindfulness practice, inspired by her volunteer work in a refugee camp overseas this past Multiple Belonging: Personal Examples summer. She said that mindfulness practice helped support As a university teacher of religion, women, and human her faith and social justice work. A Chinese Buddhist student rights, I apply secular mindfulness practices as resources expressed that her connection to other faiths derived from for peacebuilding and human rights activism. The United the compassionate intention that we began our practice Nations manual on “integrated security” or “mindfulness with each time. Last week, another student informed us without borders” incorporates these practices in a variety of that compassion, discussed in connection with women, cultural contexts, from Rwanda to Eastern Europe, without human rights, and peacebuilding, is a chemical and neural mentioning . When I integrate mindfulness response that she can access with an app! This reveals that tools in teaching religion, I find it important to consider both the interpersonal dimension may be obscured by an excessive the diversity of students in the class – diversity of religion, focus on the scientific aspect of mindfulness. Engaging issues culture, gender, race, ethnicity, social status, and sexual like these is part of the process of cultivating compassionate orientation – and my values as a practicing Buddhist with intentions. We engage secular mindfulness as a support for Christian and European ancestry. Although my personal understanding how and why we engage in human rights Buddhist values may be part of the discussion and practice, and peacebuilding. I recognize and respect the cultural and religious diversity Mindfulness practices can also facilitate reconciliation of students who are not Buddhist. Our aim is not to cultivate among religious communities. Thai Buddhist feminist Buddhist mindfulness per se, but to cultivate peacebuilding Ouyporn Khuankaew says that listening mindfully with tools and insights across our differences. an open heart is meditation in action and “a spiritual practice Mindfulness of breathing (anchoring our awareness in the without identifying with religious institutions, dogma, or breath), the practice of council, and mindful listening are authority.”5 Deep listening is a profound day-to-day practice three methods that help integrate theory and praxis. They of responding to suffering, either our own or that of others, are invaluable tools for peacebuilding and social justice that at the personal, community, and societal levels. Khuankaew connect the individual with social, spiritual, and political continues: “From a feminist perspective, listening deeply to concerns. We begin with the explicit intention to cultivate someone who experiences oppression or violence is a way to compassion, with phrases such as “May I and all beings be reconnect with their power within, their values, and their free of suffering,” “May we be free of suffering,” or “May confidence, which have been lost from living with a dominant I contribute to a more peaceful, and just society for all.” culture.” Deep listening helps them develop “trust and have Depending upon their personal values (whether they identify confidence in their own innate wisdom, ability and resilience

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to survive, to solve the challenges they are facing.” Twenty-First Century (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1996). What is key here is that if we do not know how to be 3.Anguttara Nikaya 8:39. “The Five Precepts: pañca-sila,” www. with own suffering, then we cannot be with the suffering accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/sila/pancasila.html of another person. Khuankaew links this with anchoring 4.Ouyporn Khuankaew, “Tackling Gender and Sexual the breath: “Listening with our heart open to hear someone Discrimination in Buddhism,” Arrows for Change, 14:1/2(2008) 13. suffering requires a calm and stable mind…. We anchor our 5.Ouyporn Khuankaew, “Listening to the World: Engagement minds at the breath and the body, aware that we are breathing, with Those Who Suffer,” Buddhist-Christian Studies 34(2014) 59–62. and aware of the whole body posture while we are listening. 6.The Mahāyāna intention of the (for example, in This is the mindfulness of breathing practice that allows us the four vows or Way of the Bodhisattva) is also articulated in the to engage our own difficulties while learning to be present to Pāli canon, in a jataka tale of one of the Buddha’s former lives, The others’ suffering.” Deep listening helps us bear witness and Banyan Deer. be present with others’ suffering and our own. The practice is healing and can be used in reconciliation and peacebuilding. NEWS FROM THE GARDEN The practice of loving kindness and compassion help create by Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo connections between oneself and those who are suffering. Earlier this year, I participated in an ongoing process Dongyu Gatsal Ling (Garden of the Authentic ) is of reconciliation between First Nations elders and the a nunnery in the Drukpa Kagyu tradition for young nuns ecumenical Christian community at Emmanuel College from the Himalayan regions. The nuns receive training in Toronto, where a multi-faith community and several other academic studies, meditation and ritual. The younger nuns First Nations representatives, including two Native elders, also receive a general education. spoke about the violence and inter-generational impact of Recently, there was much excitement as the nuns cleaned Christian residential schools in Canada. The invitation from and decorated the main temple and surroundings. With the Native elders was a request for non-Indigenous allies happy hearts, they prepared for the arrival of His Eminence like myself to listen and bear witness to their stories of Khamtrul Rinpoche, the founder of their nunnery. The trauma and resilience in the aftermath of the 2015 Truth master would be accompanied by many Khenpos (senior and Reconciliation report. When some non-Indigenous allies teachers) and senior monks from our affiliated monastery wished to respond, the elders asked us not to speak, but at Khampagar in Tashi Jong, , in northern instead to hold noble silence and form a circle by holding India. hands. As we did this, the female Native elder took my The occasion was the graduation ceremony of our senior hand. We held her medicine bundle and a young Native class of nuns who were receiving certificates granting them man offered a prayer and blessings. It was a gift to hold the the title of Lopönma, or Master of Philosophy. They had space, listen deeply, and bear witness. Who was the receiver, studied diligently for many years, so this was a great day for the one listening or the one speaking? Who was the giver, them all. Along with traditional tea, sweet rice, and speeches the one listening or the one being heard? What was the gift, of congratulations, Khamtrul Rinpoche gave an inspiring the story spoken or the story heard? talk on cultivating the mind. In practicing and engaging these issues as a process of Later, Khamtrul Rinpoche and I took lunch with the seven cultivating compassionate intention, faith-based mindfulness nuns who are staying in long-term retreat. Practicing under practices function as a support for interfaith reconciliation. the personal guidance of Togden Achoe, the senior yogin These practices are profoundly resonant with the Mahāyāna at Tashi Jong, these nuns have now completed nine years intention to free all sentient beings.”6 Dhamma practice and nine months of retreat practice. They are dedicated to and socially engagement occur through reconciliation and reviving the female Togdenma meditation lineage in India. multiple belonging. The newly graduated Lopönmas will now continue for a further two years of tantric studies. Following this, many will Eleanor Pontoriero teaches religious ethics, women, human rights, choose to undertake the traditional three-year retreat. Already, and peacebuilding in comparative context at the University of several of these graduate nuns are teachers for the junior Toronto. She integrates secular-based mindfulness practices into nuns. At the completion of their training, they will receive contemplative faith-based contexts with a focus on social justice. In the rank of Khenmo. We are proud of their achievements 1992, she formally took and lay precepts in the Mahāyāna and wish them all well for their future contributions to the tradition and later in the Theravāda. She leads devotional practice spread of the Dharma. and meditation in both Buddhist and interfaith contexts. A NUNS’ LEADERSHIP PROGRAM NOTES by Khenmo Drolma 1.Cited by Patricia Johnson in “Womanist Theology,” Gender, Ethnicity, and Religion: Views from the Other Side, ed. Rosemary On August 28, 2018, Nunnery in Maine, in the Radford Ruether (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2002). United States, welcomed Acharya Yeshe, the first Leadership 2.Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, Mujerista Theology: A Theology for the Fellow from Drikung Kagyu Samtenling Nunnery, located

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in Dehradun, India. The Drikung Acharya Nuns’ Leadership would introduce the nuns to an expanded worldview that Program is a one-year fellowship program that provides could inform their vision for the future of Samtenling. To training in international leadership and the future growth implement these objectives, we developed an advisory of Samtenling Nunnery and its graduates. Acharya nuns committee composed of women leaders who have diverse developed the program in conversation with an international skills and professional backgrounds, and also come from team. The program is supervised by Namgyal Taklha, the Drikung centers across the United States. former director of Samtenling Nunnery, and myself as abbess Each Fellow will be invited to create a personal project of Vajra Dakini Nunnery. This leadership program is available on a topic of her choice. These may include exploring issues to nuns who have completed the Acharya degree, which is of health, education, or environment, and programs will granted upon completion of a ten-year program in philosophy. be tailored to those interests. The advisory committee has Candidates for the program need to be proficient in basic developed a flexible program model that offers international English and committed to returning to Samtenling to share teaching and professional experience, particularly in what they have learned. programs led by women. This program model may be In 2017, I asked the new Acharya graduates, “How can we adapted to the interests of each visiting Acharya. The better support you?” A special meeting ensued. Those who advisory team will identify model projects that the Acharyas attended the meeting included the current leaders of the can visit, learn from, and potentially duplicate or modify to nunnery, as well as longtime former director Namgyal Taklha, benefit Samtenling Nunnery, the Drikung lineage, and other current director Acharya Tsekyi, accountant and secretary nunneries throughout India. Acharya Kunsang, teacher Acharya Yeshe, longtime German A Fellow will begin their experience in the U.S. with sponsor Vajramala, German nun Tsunma Jinpa, Vajra Dakini intensive language classes in both English conversation and Nunnery board member Joanne Swirez, and myself. Dharma terminology. They will shadow Khenmo Drolma During the meeting, the Acharya nuns expressed their as she oversees the programs of Vajra Dakini Nunnery, dreams for the future as well as concerns regarding the including Dharma teachings, retreats, and interfaith events. nunnery. For example, in recent years the nunnery has For example, Vajra Dakini organizes an annual March to Feed admitted two classes of young girls between the ages of eight the Hungry event in conjunction with the Buddhist Global and eleven. The older nuns have had to assume responsibility Relief organization. The Fellow would also join Khenmo in to care for these young girls, including training in basic health attending the annual Western Buddhist Monastic Gathering, and hygiene. In addition, new classes of nuns coming from where monastics join together for dialogue across traditions. remote areas of India and Tibet speak different languages, These gatherings have reduced misunderstandings and with no shared language. The situation requires patience prejudices that have historically arisen as a result of and compassion. Further education about nutrition is also geographical isolation and have created models of equitable needed to benefit the nuns. leadership and respect among genders. In extensive and frank discussions, we identified several Once a Fellows declares an area of interest, she will travel long-term goals and significant needs, including proficiency to various locations to gather information for her project, in English and access to the modern world through computer drawing on the expertise of the advisory committee. The first technology. The leaders of the nunnery also had a number of year’s program offers training and education in three areas: goals and dreams. For example, some wish to serve as Dharma curriculum and education training; nutrition and health teachers and translators. Namgyal Taklha contributed her education; and development. When the Fellow goes back vision and discussed the potential for the nuns to serve the to India, she will share her experiences by designing talks, wider Tibetan community with activities such as hospice and workshops, and classes for the 100 nuns at Samtenling. The elder care, modeled on programs by highly skilled Catholic leadership program will become a resource and an inspiration nuns. We could all see that each graduating class of nuns in for the whole community of nuns. For further information the Acharya program will produce educated women with about this developing program: www.vajradakininunnery. great potential for leadership. org. It became clear that this is a wonderful opportunity for nuns to step forward and help determine their future in the SAKYADHITA GERMANY MEETS AGAIN 21st-century as leaders in the Drikung lineage. To expand by Rotraut (Jampa) Wurst their understanding of the range of choices available to them and increase their confidence, we felt that it would be Sakyadhita Germany was approved as a national branch beneficial for the Acharaya nuns of Samtenling to broaden of Sakyadhita International in 2013. We hold a meeting of their horizons by participating in an international leadership Sakyadhita Germany every two years, alternating with the program. This program would provide them with the Sakyadhita International Conference on Buddhist Women. opportunity to focus on English and computer skills while Our guest speaker was Thich Nu Tinh Quang from Canada. at the same time allowing them to experience the role of In 2014, our guest speaker was Dr. Karma Lekshe Tsomo, one women’s leadership in various religions and community of the original founders and former president of Sakyadhita service activities. Traveling abroad to Vajra Dakini Nunnery International. In 2016, we invited Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo,

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who is currently the president of Sakyadhita International. The third and fourth activities were simulation exercises. This year, on August 4, 2018, we held our third meeting at The first one involved an imagined scene at a cocktail party the Tibetisches Zentrum in Hamburg and invited Thich Nu at the United Nations. We gathered into groups of four or Tinh Quang from Sakyadhita Canada to be our guest speaker. five people and each person received a slip of paper. On Over the years, it has been challenging for the members each paper was written the name of a fictitious country such of Sakyadhita Germany to keep in touch with one another as “Shnabbeldizupf.” And each country was described as and renew our connections with Sakyadhita International. having special attitudes, ways of speaking, and manners of This year, we were fortunate to hold our meeting under behaving. We were then asked to interact with each other, the auspices of the Tibetan center in Hamburg. Thanks to which was quite difficult. the donations of people who were interested in Sakyadhita In the fourth experiment, we were again assembled at activities, it was possible to again invite an international the imagined cocktail party at the United Nations. But this guest. As the president of Sakyadhita Germany, I issued an time, we were supposed to be . We were asked invitation to Thich Nu Tinh Quang, who practices in the to be aware of our feelings and behavior, regardless of our Vietnamese Thien (Zen) Buddhist tradition. She accepted assigned countries. People’s responses were sometimes funny, our invitation and happily agreed to stay at my place. Gisa sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes difficult, but everyone Stülpe and her team seamlessly arranged everything for happily accepted these challenges. the meeting and invited us all for lunch. We are grateful for At the conclusion of the meeting, Thich Nu Tinh Quang their kind support! gave a about Buddhism is. She reminded us A small group of 16 people attended the Sakyadhita that the Buddha will not take us by the hand and lead us Germany meeting. Only two other Sakyadhita Germany to enlightenment, but that he did provide us with a map or, members were able to attend. Although the weather was in modern terms, a GPS to guide us toward enlightenment, unusually hot that day, the meeting was successful and summed up in the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold quite beautiful. I began by describing the history and Path. These guidelines help us think about our intrinsic activities of Sakyadhita Germany. I also mentioned some of biases and prejudices in a new light. Everyone was grateful the challenges we had faced in organizing local Sakyadhita for this enriching experience. We look forward to the fourth projects, such as “Sitting in Council,” because there are so meeting of Sakyadhita Germany in 2020! many different Buddhist groups in Germany who organize For information on Sakyadhita Germany, contact me at various activities. I informed the participants about the 16th [email protected] or visit us on social media: Sakyadhita International Conference on Buddhist Women to https://de-de.facebook.com/Sakyadhita.Germany; be held in Australia in June 2019 and encouraged everyone http://sakyadhita-germany.blogspot.de; and http://www. to attend. Some interested participants exchanged email sakyadhita.org. addresses, so we could keep in touch. Next, Thich Nu Tinh Quang began with her challenging LIVING VINAYA IN THE WEST: TAIWANESE workshop on “Buddhist Ethics and Intrinsic Bias.” She had VINAYA MASTER TEACHES AT SRAVASTI ABBEY prepared some small slips of paper to distribute to the by Bhiksuni Thubten Chonyi participants. On each slip of paper was the beginning of a Eastern Washington was the site of an important moment sentence and each person was asked to finish the sentence, for American Buddhism. From January 22 to February 8, 2018, for example, “Gays are...,” “Muslims are...,” “Buddhists are...,” Sravasti Abbey in Newport, Washington, hosted 49 nuns and so on. The slips were collected after everyone finished for Living Vinaya in the West. The 16-day course was an the sentences they had received. The slips of paper were then experience in learning and living the Vinaya, the advice the distributed and each person chose a slip of paper to read Buddha gave 2,500 years ago to guide, govern, and support aloud. Thich Nu Tinh Quang then facilitated a discussion harmonious nuns’ and monks’ communities. among the participants on the question, “What feeling came up when you read the sentence you were given?” Living Joyfully as Buddhist Nuns The next activity, the famous Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes Bhiksuni Master Wuyin, the abbess and president of experiment, was even more challenging. As each person Luminary International Buddhist Society (LIBS) in Taiwan, approached Thich Nu Tinh Quang, she took a look and was the vinaya master, and she was supported by six separated people into two groups. One group was asked to bhiksunis (fully ordained nuns) from her community. Sravasti stay and the other group was asked to leave the room. She told Abbey founder and abbess Bhiksuni also the people who went outside that they were superior, more taught from her experience of establishing the vinaya in gifted, and instructed them to re-enter the room but not to an American monastery. The Abbey is the first Buddhist take a seat next to “the others,” who were not as privileged. monastery in the United States to form a bhiksuni sangha The activity caused a range of surprising responses. community and adopt the monastic rites prescribed by the Interactions between the two groups were strained and many Buddha. uncomfortable feelings, prejudices, and judgments emerged. Nuns from three Buddhist traditions – Chinese Mahayana, The activity ended with a very emotional discussion! Tibetan, and – gathered from Europe, Asia, and

19 South America as well as the United States and Canada society by being of service to society outside the monastery. to attend the course. About half of these nuns have no Bhiksuni Karma Lodro Gangtso, an American nun who opportunity to live in a monastic community. Several others spoke on behalf of the Tibetan Buddhist nuns who attended, are in the early stages of founding nuns’ communities. was touched by the Buddha’s care for the nuns and monks Everyone was joyful to be together and learn about the directly under his guidance. “We learned that the stories monastic precepts and way of life. Laughter, sincerity, about monastics from 2,500 years ago are still alive today, transparency, celebration, and discipline co-existed amicably that those bhiksus (fully ordained monks) and bhiksunis within the harmonious sangha, literally drawn from ten were just like us. The way Bhiksuni Master Wuyin taught directions. this course made it feel like they were here, like they lived yesterday, and not long ago in a distant land far away. The A Historic Event course made the vinaya teachings feel so relevant.” The Living Vinaya in the West course was historic in several According to Bhiksuni Master Wuyin, the vinaya teachings ways. It was the first such training offered in the United States must be lived to be understood. Through teachings, videos, for Western nuns in diverse traditions. In addition, it featured discussion groups, skits, and active participation in some the first ordination of a novice nun that was conducted by an vinaya rites, the LIBS faculty brought the vinaya alive for the all-Western, English-speaking sangha in the residents of Sravasti Abbey, where the rituals are practiced, tradition, as practiced at Sravasti Abbey. Previous ordinations as well as for the guest nuns. at the Abbey have included the support of senior nuns from Bhiksuni Karma Lodro Gangtso said, “We were able to the Chinese Buddhist tradition. experience so many of these things we learned: doing the The instructor for the course, Bhiksuni Master Wuyin, has posadha (fortnightly confession and purification) together, been a Buddhist nun for over 60 years. She has dedicated her conducting the ordination, living together, experiencing what life to improving the status of fully ordained nuns, first in it’s like to confess, what it’s like to rejoice, what it’s like to her native Taiwan and now around the world. At the age of get up every day and put on our robes, to shave our heads, 77, Master Wuyin said she came halfway around the world to witness the head shaving. All of these things have been specifically to teach this course at Sravasti Abbey. She wanted very meaningful.” to observe and support the Abbey’s growing bhikshuni sangha and to train and inspire nuns from other places to The Future establish nunneries themselves. In the Mahaparinibbana Sutta and other texts, the Buddha Bhiksuni Master Wuyin said her experience during the emphasized the importance of the four-fold assembly: male course gives her hope for the future of monastic communities and female lay Buddhist practitioners and fully ordained in the West. monks and nuns. All have a responsibility to “walk the path of the Dharma.” All are necessary for the teachings to survive Why Is This Important? and thrive. With several million Buddhists in the United Monastic communities are essential for the long life of the States today, the Buddha’s teachings to alleviate suffering Dharma – the Buddha’s teachings and practices. The Buddha and bring happiness are clearly taking root. Sravasti Abbey stated that wherever a community of four or more fully is encouraged that support for is also ordained monks or nuns practices the vinaya, his teachings growing. We rejoice in the burgeoning monastic communities would live long in the world. Sravasti Abbey was founded in the West and offer tremendous gratitude to our teachers on that basis. in the Taiwanese and Tibetan Buddhist communities who Buddhism is still new to the United States and the Dharma have helped us learn and grow. teachings are extensive. Buddhist monasticism is little known As she was leaving, Bhiksuni Master Wuyin promised to and poorly understood in the West. The teachings on how return to Sravasti Abbey soon to encourage our monastics’ monks and nuns can live in harmonious communities have efforts to serve society. As we witness recent discord in not been widely translated or disseminated. These teachings, contemporary American public discourse, we rejoice at preserved in the vinaya, contain detailed instructions from learning ways that monastics can be more effective in bringing the Buddha himself. Western practitioners can learn much Buddha’s teachings on love, compassion, and wisdom to all from the Asian lineages that have preserved the Buddha’s who wish to hear them. teachings. Acknowledgments A Living Vinaya This newsletter was compiled and edited by Rebecca Paxton, The term vinaya is usually translated as “the Buddhist Karma Lekshe Tsomo, and Lynn Merrill Weyman. Layout by monastic code of ethics.” The vinaya teachings of the Buddha Charlotte Collins. Photos (pp. 1, 3, 4, 12) by Olivier Adam. We are rich and vibrant. They include guidance on everything, appreciate your membership! Please renew online at from how to handle monastery resources to methods for www.sakyadhita.org or by mail: resolving disputes. These teachings provide guidance for Sakyadhita International life inside the monastery, and Bhiksuni Master Wuyin also 11474 Mc Dowell Court emphasizes the role that monastics must play in modern San Diego, CA 92131 U.S.A.